Why Stay Alkaline?

Here's proof that what often seems like wacky information can actually be sound advice. About forty years ago (yes that is right) when I was a student at the University of Arizona, I visited a "nutritionist." While the guy was not a "certified nutritionist," meaning he did not have a degree in nutrition from a university, he was a so-called expert in fasting and cleansing the body. For those of you who think cleansing is a new phenom, it has been around for thousands of years, though in many different forms and incarnations.

The nutritionist told me that I needed to keep my body alkaline. He had me test my urine every morning with PH strips to see whether I was more acid or alkaline. Keeping the body more alkaline, he said, would promote good health.

How do you make the body more alkaline? By eating lots of vegetables and fruits. Even acid fruits become alkaline in the body. Alkalinity promotes good bone health and promotes good kidney function. Too much acid in the bloodstream causes muscle wasting. "Muscle loss is the body's way of adapting to excess acid, so is bone loss" according to the recent issue of the Nutrition Action newsletter.

What foods create acidity in the body? Carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, oats, sweets), even whole grains, proteins (meat, fish, dairy). Oils are neutral and luckily red wine and beer are slightly alkaline producing. Fruits and vegetables are highly alkaline. The PRAL or potential renal acid load lists foods that drop the acid load. Foods with a high negative PRAL (like fruits and veggies) neutralize foods with high positive PRALs.

This does not mean eliminate all animal protein or carbs. Your protein intake in grams should be approximately half your body weight in pounds. Interestingly, while animal proteins are acid producing, beans are less acid producing than the same amount of protein from beef. However, "the acid producing quality depends on how many sulfur-containing amino acids (protein's building blocks) are in the protein. There is a wide range in both plant and animal sources so it is misleading to refer to protein as plant or animal, unless you know the overall picture."

Limit your carbs to about 6-8 servings and make those whole grains (see my GoBeFull book for portions sizes; http://www.gobefull.com/) and increase your intake of fruits and veggies to eleven servings a day. While eleven servings seems like a lot of fruits and veggies, it is not that hard if you eat more salads, vegetarian entrees, and snack on fresh fruit. Raisins (watch the serving size) have the highest PRAL. Spinach is also really high.

Add in regular high impact, weight bearing exercise and Vitamin D (about 800 mg./day) to insure strong bones.

Just so you know, that wacky nutritionist who told me to stay alkaline went on to invent Juice Plus! Sometimes what seems like quackery in one decade turns out to be common sense in another.